Humanverse

Waylynn vs Wayne

American parents have registered 356,422 Waynes since 1880, against 502 Waylynns. Wayne is still ahead, with 422 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Waylynn against Wayne, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Waylynn Wayne

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Wayne has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2020, when Waylynn had 58 and Wayne had 305.

Side by side

  Waylynn Wayne
Total US births 502356,422
Most in one year 6110,202
Babies in 2025 40422
Estimated living today 500198,000
Median age today 566
Peak year 20191947
Best rank 3,337th girls30th boys
Rank in 2025 5,917th652nd
First recorded 20111880
Girls / boys 362 / 1401,604 / 354,818

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Waynes alive today are over 66; half the Waylynns are over 5. That is 61 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Waylynn and Wayne.